Airport Trivia : Cargo District Facilities

 Cargo District Facilities

Cargo handling facilities consist of airline cargo handling sheds and agents that sort, pack, weigh, and prepare cargo for loading onto aircraft, and sort cargo unloaded from aircraft by destination and consignee.

Airline cargo sorting shed: A facility that accepts cargo unloaded from an aircraft, sorts it, and delivers it to a cargo collection and delivery agent (shipping company).

Agent: A carrier that handles air cargo.

For international cargo, customs inspection and quarantine inspection of animals and plants are added, and customs offices, quarantine stations, and fumigation facilities (fumigating facilities to prevent pests and diseases) are established.

Air cargoes are subject to high value-added and urgent requirements. There are three types of air cargo transportation methods: belly cargo by passenger aircraft, fraternal cargo by cargo aircraft, and mixed cargo by cargo/passenger aircraft.

Belly cargo is an aircraft's belly (belly: the upper half of the circular section of the fuselage in which the passenger seats are located, and the lower half is the space between the upper and lower halves). The belly is the upper half of the circular section of the aircraft, and the lower half is the space between the upper half and the lower half. The belly is the upper half of the circular section of the aircraft, and the lower half is the space between the upper half and the lower half of the aircraft.

There are two types of cargo loading methods: the ULD method (container pallet igloo) and the bulk method. In the container method, cargo is loaded into a container that matches the dimensions of the aircraft's cargo hold.

The pallet method is to load cargo on a predetermined pallet (base plate), and the igle method is to load cargo on an igloo covered with a pallet.

The igle method is a method in which cargo is loaded onto igles covered with pallets, and is referred to as the ULD (Unitized Load Device) method. This method is called ULD (Unitized Load Device) method, which reduces loading and unloading time, thus shortening aircraft standby time.

This method is effective for flight operations because it shortens loading and unloading times. The bulk method is the bulk loading method, but as aircrafts become larger, the amount of cargo increases, and the time required for loading and unloading cargo becomes longer.

As aircraft become larger, the amount of cargo increases, and the time required for loading and unloading becomes longer. Therefore, the container method is superior in terms of workability for loading/unloading, sorting, and unpacking, and this method is used for most large aircraft.

Since the majority of cargo is usually carried on passenger flights, cargo areas are often located close to the passenger apron.

Examples of Japanese airports with cargo areas are Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Kansai, New Chitose, and Fukuoka airports with international flights.